Claire Underwood Is the Best Thing About Season 3 of House of Cards

Warning: This piece discloses several plot points of season three of House of Cards.

House of Cards has always been about Frank and Claire Underwood’s Machiavellian path to power. Over the past two years, we’ve seen them connive, intimidate, and murder their way to the top. Season one ended with Frank maneuvering himself into the vice presidency, and by the last episode of season two, he had finagled his way into the Oval Office. After he was sworn in as president, you had to wonder: What would become of the Underwoods?

The beginning of season three finds them as first couple and, for the first time, at odds with each other. They’re sleeping in separate bedrooms and have increasingly diverging motivations. Refusing to go down in history as an interim president, Frank is desperately seeking reelection to further consolidate his power. Meanwhile, Claire is restless as first lady—this is not a woman who would be content to host an Easter Egg run. She wants more, and that means an active role in her husband’s government. “I’ve been in the passenger seat for decades,” she tells Frank in the middle of the night. “It’s time for me to get behind the wheel.”

The Underwoods’s relationship fascinates fans of House of Cards, and in the show, it also intrigues novelist Thomas Yates, who is brought on board by Frank to write a book about his employment program, America Works. Yates quickly realizes the better story is lurking behind the closed doors of the Underwood residence. And while there’s plenty of salacious material to be found—their non-monogamy, Frank’s bisexuality—what Yates really wants to dig deep into is the power dynamic between the two of them. Up until now, their marriage has been portrayed to outsiders, and to themselves, as a relationship between equals. But that notion slowly begins to fall apart once they’re in the White House, and that’s what makes season three so compelling to watch. We’re constantly left wondering: Who’s running the show? Who needs the other more?

It’s a toss-up throughout. In the earlier episodes, Frank succumbs easily to Claire’s demands, even though her requests are often impulsive or impractical. She’s relentless when trying to convince him to nominate her as UN Ambassador. Even though it’s an unwise move for him—she lacks the experience—he still hands the position to Claire, even after the Senate fails to confirm her. Once she has the job, Claire makes a couple of mistakes when dealing with Russia and the Putin-inspired President Petrov. After surveying the damage wrought by her decisions, Frank snaps and admits he should’ve never made her ambassador, to which Claire retorts, “I should’ve never made you President.”

On the surface, Frank agrees with her, even confessing to Yates that it’s because of Claire that he’s in the White House at all. Frank constantly fawns over his wife’s intelligence, her beauty, her wit. Plus, she’s the only one who seems to have the ability to say no to him, as when he asks if he can sleep in the same bedroom with her again, a request she politely declines. When negotiating with Petrov later on, the Russian President asks Frank to fire his wife as UN Ambassador—he knows a rift in the Underwood marriage will leave the president, and in turn the U.S. vulnerable.

From then on, it’s Frank who’s holding all the cards. With Claire out as ambassador, she has no choice but to focus on the re-election campaign. While he’s off running the country, Claire is being told by his staff to change her hair to a style that might poll better. She’s shuffled from blood drive to kindergarten reading to fundraiser, all for the sake of raising Frank’s popularity with voters. While in the past she happily played the role of the politician’s wife, now the whole thing gnaws at her self-worth. She’s back in the passenger seat and wants out.

Claire takes a step back from the campaign and even misses Frank’s celebratory speech after he wins the primary in Iowa. This is the last straw for Frank, who has been patiently dealing with Claire’s increasing defiance. It all culminates with an explosive fight in the Oval Office—the only suitable place for a showdown. With the insults that follow, though delivered calm and collected, they go for the jugular. Claire points out the imbalance of power in their relationship—in the end, there’s only one chair in the Oval Office. And when Frank realizes that Claire is upset not because only one of them can be president but because she clearly thinks that person should be her, he becomes as ruthless with her as he is with any other enemy. “Without me, you are nothing,” he says. And while that may be true, at the very end, Claire decides to leave, walking away from everything they’ve worked for. Who will suffer most from her absence? We’ll have to wait a year to find out. Until then: Your move, Frank.